My dog shakes its head and scratches its ears

A dog's ear has a shape that does not help. The canal drops vertically and then turns at an angle towards the eardrum, like an L. Everything that gets in, water, hair, wax, dust, tends to stay at the bottom, in a warm, dark space with little airflow. In dogs with drop ears or a lot of hair in the canal, even less air.

A little wax is normal and serves a purpose: it traps dirt and protects the skin of the canal. The trouble begins when it accumulates, gets damp and changes. The skin inside becomes irritated, produces even more wax, and the environment becomes ideal for yeasts and bacteria, always present in small numbers, to multiply.

Your dog expresses it however it can: shaking the head, scratching the ear with a back paw, rubbing against the rug or tilting the head to one side. Sometimes you only notice the ear smells different when you stroke it.

Cleaning the ear at home is part of normal care, but it has a clear limit: cleaning is for maintaining, not for treating. If the ear is already red, sore or discharging, cleaning it before a vet has seen it can make things worse. Here we explain how to do the first and how to recognise the second.

The usual road and the PerroAmante road. What people usually try: cotton buds that push the wax deeper, water or forum vinegar that leave moisture and upset the skin of the canal, or waiting for it to pass while the dog keeps shaking its head. They fail because the problem sits at the bottom, in a dark, damp L that none of this ventilates. The Protocolo PerroAmante works in a different order: Understand how your dog's ear is built, Care for it with a suitable cleaner and the massage technique, and Maintain with a one-minute weekly check. It is like a drain: better to keep it from filling than to unblock it every month.